


Of an Android

by Oak_Leaf



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Androids, Frustration, Origins, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-12-04
Packaged: 2018-02-18 10:09:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2344550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oak_Leaf/pseuds/Oak_Leaf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which there is a man, a mechanic, and one unusual android.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fan-fiction for Lunar Chronicles, so it probably isn't quite up to snuff. Criticism is much appreciated, so let me know what you think!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the story begins

Someone had made a mistake. Lyk Maro knew this the instant he turned his new android on for the first time. The Hiriko 0.7 had been top of the line, and at a fantastic deal. Only 100 univs!

He'd found out why. The android's sensor lit up, and the first words out of its mouth were: "Ooo, you're cute!"

Something was definately wrong.

Maro put up with the defect as best he could. He would have called the company about the problem, but, well. . .he hadn't quite gotten it though any 'official' channels.

And things only got worse after Hiriko 0.7 spotted a report on the netscreen featuring Prince Kai. Could androids _have_ crushes? Stars, it was unbelievable.

"Wow, wow, wow!" it had squealed. "Who is _that_? I think I'm overheating."

Maro jerked her away from the netscreen. "Will you stop that? It's not right for you to be like that--and you're supposed to be cleaning the kitchen."

Hiriko 0.7 only made a noise surprisingly like a laugh. "Maro, don't be jealous. I still think you're cute, you know." 

Unbelievable.

Unbearable, too. She--it--got the assigned work done, but. . .all that personality. . . . It was giving him a headache.

One night, he woke up to a murmur of voices. When he ventured from his bed to find the android focusing her--its!--rapt attention on a netdrama, he knew something had to be done.

And soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the story picks up speed.

"I'm looking for Linh Cinder's stall, is this it?"

The girl who had been hunched over the table, working on a netscreen, straightened. She blinked at Maro. "Yes. What can I help you with?"

She wore her brown hair up in a messy pony-tail, and sported grease on her nose. But aside from that, she was rather pretty. Maro might have been interested, but he had caught sight of her hand, which was made of metal. A cyborg. Shame.

"Well, I've got this android, you see, and--"

"Hi!"

At the sound of Hiriko 0.7's voice, Maro's lips thinned. Crap. He'd left her--it, it, _it_!--in front of a netscreen where Prince Kai was being interviewed, and had hoped she'd stay there until he had arranged things. But of course, that android just couldn’t coperate, could it?

Hiriko 0.7 suddenly appeared at Maro's side, and he saw the girl glance at it. "That's me, the android. Hiriko 0.7, but I'd like people to call me--"

"You're interrupting our business!" Maro snapped, frustration having built up. And, before the android could start talking again, he turned back to the girl. "Are you Linh Cinder?”

She nodded.

"Good. I need you to work on my android. Remove the personality chip, or whatever. Just. . .make her-- _it_ \--stop being _this_." He gestured towards Hiriko 0.7

Who had suddenly fallen silent.

"My. . .my personality chip?" the android whispered.

Maro ignored her. "Well? Can you fix it?"

Linh Cinder was glancing back and forth between the two. Her brow was furrowed, and she looked caught. "I. . .I might. I'd have to look, but--"

"That's fine." Maro felt relief flood through him. "Take you time. You keep her for now, see what you can do, and let me tell you where to reach me." He gave the girl his number, and left Hiriko 0.7 there with her. As he walked away from her stall, he couldn't help feeling like someone freed from a great burden.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a plan is made.

Cinder blinked, watching the man disappear into the crowd of the market. A strange five minutes, to be sure. She looked back at the android he'd left behind, who hadn't moved or made a noise. For some reason, she felt concern bubbling up in her.

"Are. . .you alright?" she asked.

The android directed its sensor towards her in a jerkish movement. "I have a very nice personality, you know," it said in a quiet voice. "And I'm always so nice to Maro, and I tell him he's as cute as Prince Kai even though he's not."

Cinder wasn't sure what to say. "I. . ."

The android turned away from her suddenly. ”Fine!” the android yelled, facing the general direction that Maro had walked off in. “You don’t like my personality? Who cares! _I_ like my personality.”

The android turned to Cinder again. "He didn't even like netdramas--he thought they were stupid. _Stupid_. Shows what kind of taste he has."

"You watch netdramas?" Cinder asked.

"Why shouldn't I? They're interesting--oh, like the one where the young scientist travels back to the second-era, and he _falls in love_ while he's there. And he doesn't have the heart to tell his sweetheart that he's from another time, and he'll have to leave her. . . . So romantic!"

As Cinder listened to her, it became apparent that those were the android's favorite words. Everything was so romantic. Netdramas, Prince Kai, the plague (Cinder stared as the android explained the romance if a man to got the plague, and then the girl he loved had to search and search and search for a cure). . . Even her being dropped off her top have her personality erased was romantic.

"I've realized what it is, just as I was talking to you. See, Maro does actually like my personality chip. He likes it a _lot_ , if you know what I mean. But, he can't stand to admit that he's in love with an android, so he's doing this. It's like something out of a netdrama!"

Right. Cinder bit her lip, only holding back a laugh because she didn't want to hurt the android's feelings.

Wait. Hurt the android's feelings?

Android's didn't _have_ feelings.

_And yet,_ she mused to herself, studying the sleek, titanium body chattering away before her. _And yet this one_ does.

How could Cinder get rid of that?

"I can't," she said, feeling surprised.

"What?" asked the android, who had been discussing a plan to get back at Maro, which involved finding a 'stunningly beautiful' escort-droid body and using it to break his heart, when she'd been interrupted. "You can't what?"

"I can't change your personality chip. It would be _wrong_."

"Well, of course it would be. And did you think I would let you touch my personality chip?"

Cinder found herself smiling. Then, she thought back to the android's owner and frowned. What was she supposed to do about him? "The problem is--what did you say his name was, Maro?"

"Lyk Maro, yes."

"Well, he's going to come back here and expect me to have fixed you back to ordinary dullness, and . . . when I haven't . . ." He'd take the android back, and try to find someone who would take care of her personality chip. And whoever he found might not feel the same way as Cinder.

She shook her head, running one hand down her face as she thought. Glancing around her stall, her eyes caught on something toward the back.

A grin began to tug at her mouth. "You know," she said. "I think I have an idea." She looked back at the android. "Oh, um, and did you . . . have a name?"

"Well, of course. It's supposed to be Hiriko 0.7, but I'd like it if people would call me Iko."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to post this . . . time got away from me. The fourth and final chapter should be up sooner; I'm already half-done with it. Anyhow, hope you enjoyed this!


	4. In which this story ends.

Maro could kiss that mechanic. If she weren't a cyborg, anyway. And covered with so much grease. He had gotten the comm that morning, but it was late in the day before he was finally able to make his way to the New Beijing market. Pushing through the crowds, he finally came to her stall. And there she sat, with Hiriko 0.7 at her side. The android didn't say anything as Maro approached, which he took as a good sign.

"Well?" Maro asked somewhat eagerly. "You got her fixed?"

In answer, she reached over and flicked the switch on the android's neck. Sensor lighting up, it straightened, turning towards Maro. It looked over him for a moment, then said, "My memory-bank tells me you are my owner, Lyk Maro." The voice would have been the same, but there was something missing to it. A certain brightness, a certain lilt of unexpectedness. Now the android sounded, calm, even, predictable.

 _Thank the stars,_ Maro thought.

He paid the mechanic what she asked (160 univs, which was frankly a rip-off). "She'll be fine now, right?" he asked. "Completely lifeless and devoid of personality," the mechanic assured him. Maro smiled. And as he left, Hiriko 0.7 rolling along behind him, he was well on his way to forgetting that the whole unpleasant incident had ever happened.

**________________________________________________________________________________________________________**

"Is he gone?"

Cinder let loose the grin that had been tugging at her mouth. "Yeah. He's gone."

A squat android only a little higher than Cinder's waist rolled out from the back of the stall. "Whew," she said. "You don't know how hard that was, hiding back there instead of coming out here and giving him a piece of my mind."

"Which, was what he wanted to take from you anyway."

Iko cocked her head at Cinder. "Actually, that's kind of funny you know."

"Well, thank you." Cinder shook her head, leaning backwards against her table. She looked over the android beside her, and couldn't help feeling pleased. Really, it had been ridiculously easy just to switch the personality chips around, installing Iko's in this older, run down model, and modifying it's to go into Lyk Maro's android. The voice synthesizer of this android also happened to create a rather squeaky voice, which Cinder thought fit Iko perfectly. 

“Why are you staring at me?” Iko asked. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Cinder assured her. But Iko wouldn't accept that

“Is it because I look like a pear now? Stars, it is, isn’t? I’ll have to find some other body…. An escort droid would be good….” Her sensor brightened at the prospect, and Cinder rolled her eyes.

Later, when Cinder had closed her stall down, and began making her way home, the android was following her. She shook her head, but couldn’t keep a smile from her face. So she had gained an android. It wouldn't be that bad, having Iko around, and Cinder had to admit she was starting to like her. Besides, maybe an android could appease Adri somehow....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took me way to long to get this posted after I had finished it. I'm not exactly pleased with the ending of this chapter (and coincidentally the end of the whole story), so let me know what you think in the comments!


End file.
